KASUNOD ng paglagda sa joint memorandum circular (JMC) para mapabilis ang proseso ng mga rekisitos para sa common towers, sinabi ng Anti-Red Tape Authority (ARTA) na ang mga aplikasyon na isinumite ng telecommunications companies (telcos) and tower companies sa pamahalaan ay awtomatikong maaaprubahan sa loob ng pitong araw.
Ito ay matapos ang ginanap na consultation meeting sa pagitan ng Smart Communications, Globe Telecom, tower companies, the Department of the Interior and Local Government (DILG), Department of Information and Communications Technology (DICT), Board of Investments (BOI), Department of Finance (DOF), Bureau of Local Government Finance (BLGF), at iba pang private stakeholders na inorganisa ng ARTA noong Agosto 4.
Sa kanyang mensahe, sinabi ni ARTA Director-General Jeremiah Belgica na bilang dagdag sa mga probisyon sa kalalagda lang na JMC para sa common towers, lahat nang nakabinbin na aplikasyon ng telcos and tower companies sa local government units (LGU) at national government agencies (NGA) ay awtomatiko nang aprubado makalipas ang seven working days mula nang isumite ito at mabayaran ang mga kinakailangan.
Batay aniya ito sa Section 15 ng Republic Act (RA) 11032 o ang “Ease of Doing Business and Efficient Delivery of Government Service Act of 2018” na nagsasabing: “If the granting authority fails to approve or disapprove an application for a license, clearance, permit, certification, or authorization within the prescribed processing time, said application shall be deemed approved.”
Kung kailangan ang approval ng local legislative body, mangangailangan ito ng karagdagang “non-extendible period of 20 working days”.
Ayon kay Belgica, “That is why, during the meeting, we required the telcos and tower companies to furnish ARTA a list of all their pending applications with any LGUs or NGAs. If the application has been pending more than seven days with any LGUs or NGAs, this will be declared by ARTA as automatically approved.”
Bukod sa “automatic approval of applications that have gone past the prescribed processing time”, aatasan din aniya ng ARTA ang kaukulang LGU o NGA na ilabas ang pending documents or permits sa aplikante.
“Refusal to do so shall be a ground for the filing of an administrative case. If there will be illegal fixers and fixing involved then a criminal case shall be pursued as well,” ayon pa kay Belgica.
Aniya, ang ARTA, DILG at DICT ay makikipagkita sa League of Provinces, Cities, and Municipalities sa mga susunod na araw para mas talakayin pa ang bagong JMC at ang “automatic approval of all pending applications”.
Noong Hulyo 23 ay nilagdaan ng ilang NGAs ang JMC No. 01 s. 2020 o ang “Streamlined guidelines for the issuance of permits, licenses, and certificates for the construction of shared passive telecommunications tower infrastructure”.
Sinabi ng DICT na paiikliin ng JMC ang proseso ng “requirements and construction of common towers” sa buong bansa na mula sa dating average na 200 araw ay magiging 16 na araw na lang.
(Raymond Carl Dela Cruz – PNA)
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